


Little Archer

by RivaleeScotti



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Abuse, Apoclaypse, Merle's Daughter, OC, Own Character, Walker's, Walking, Will Dixon - Freeform, Zombie, anxst, dead, dixon - Freeform, the, the walking dead - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-18
Updated: 2021-03-18
Packaged: 2021-03-26 22:02:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30112692
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RivaleeScotti/pseuds/RivaleeScotti
Summary: The Walking Dead. Merle's Daughter runs -literally- runs into Rick and the group bringing trouble along with her. After a close-call with a horde of Walkers. Sophia Goes missing and Harley Dixon wakes up in a unfamiliar farm. After spending god-knows how long on her own since outbreak day. Will she be able to make a space for herself in the group with the guilt of having a girl going missing because of her? Will she be able to reconnect to the family she believes that left her to die?
Comments: 1
Kudos: 2





	Little Archer

In a world where you have to watch your back twenty-four-seven. In a world where you should sleep with one eye open unless you don't care about turning into food for moving corpses (or even people) or getting robbed. 

You think it would be standard practice, that if someone runs past you - especially someone you've never seen before - sprints past you completely ignoring you, for the most part, you would run too. Common sense? They're probably running from something and that something is most definitely scarier than you.

This particular group of dumb-arses hadn't gotten that memo. Harley was half in mind to leave them to it because any minute now they'd see the horde - At bare minimum hundred and fifty- living corpses, Rotters, geeks, creepers, walkers, whatever you wanted to call them.

She weaved in between abandoned cars, pushed past an actual survivor that tried to grab her on her way past. How long could she keep this up? Her legs had long gone numb, if she stopped now, she'd surely fall to the floor and not be able to get back up. Maybe she could veer off into the forest. 

"Get under the cars! Everyone get under the cars now!" The man yelled.

 _Hide?_ Surely they'd see her scramble under one of the vehicles. She wasn't so far ahead as the other survivors to hide and not be noticed. Her lungs burn and something grabbed her ankle and yanked. She hit the ground hard, swore, and yelled as rough hands dragged her under a vehicle like some horror movie. Hands clamped over her mouth.

In the chaos she dropped her bow.

"Shut up!" A voice hissed in her ear and her whole body obeyed and barely have a minute later, the sound of stumbling corpses came by. Blue eyes wide as she watched pairs of feet step by, one after the other and the minutes dragged on like hours. Slowly, ever so slowly, she moved one of her trembling hands to the hilt of the knife. She sucked in a breath through her nose- as much as she could with those dirty, sweaty hands clamped over her mouth and the other around her waist keeping her pinned.

The pairs of feet thinned out some. She slowly pulled the knife out of her holster. _Don't do anything stupid_ ; she reminded herself. As her heart threatened to break out from her ribcage, she tried to push the fear away. Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes and her nose tingled.

 _Don't cry. Don't cry. Don't fucking cry_. 

A scream then a, "SOPHIA!" 

The hands around her loosened, she threw her head back and the man holding her sworn. She scrambled out from beneath the car, holstering her knife as she scooped her compound bow and one of the arrows that had fallen from the bow-quiver. The man came after she and she backed up. She saw two people vanish into the forests and she took aim at the man in front of her.

"I just saved your life and you aim that thing at me!?!" He was holding his busted nose. Blood dripped between his fingers, eyes narrowed at her in a glare. He threw his other hand up as yelled and she took a step back.

Her head hurt- throbbed so bad the bright sunlight made her eyes ache. Had she hit when she fell?

"Hey? Share what's going on - oh-" Someone else appeared in her vision. He was an older man with white thinning hair and warm eyes.

"Back the fuck off!" She pointed her bow at him.

"Shane! Don't!" The old man yelled taking a step forward before Harley knew what was going on she was on the ground. The arrow pierced through a window of a car near the old man. "She's just a kid! Let her go!"

Harley struggled under him, managed to get her hands up as he threw a punch. The next thing she knew her hands were pinned above her head by the black-haired man. He was breathing heavy but it was nothing compared to her. No matter how much she seemed to breathe, gasping for air she just couldn't get enough oxygen. Thoughts running a million miles a minute, unable to break the grip of the man. Ears ringing too much to hear what the man -Shane- above her or what the old man was saying. One thought silenced the other.

If I'm going down, I'm taking them with me.

The horde of Walker's were still on the highway. Sure, they were far enough but something loud enough and they'd turn around and-

"AAAAaaaaa!!!!"

"Shut up! Shut the hell up. You're going to bring those Walker's back on us!" Shane hissed. More yelling, more survivors. 

Too many people. Too many shouting. Her chest hurt. She craned her neck. Wrists pinned right next to her own head, she jerked forward and sank her teeth into the man's wrist.

Shane swore, grabbed her ashy hair lifted her head, and smacked her head down on the ground silencing her. Her azure eyes rolled back to her head and she limp. 

Shane got up to his feet, wiped his forehead, and looked at the remaining members of the group looking at him in horror. Dale looked torn between furious and wanting to throw-up. Carol, Lori, and Carl were still at the RV with Andrea. Lucky for Shane, Lori had ushered Carl into the RV.

"What the hell man?!" T-Dog hissed. "She's a kid."

"What? You heard her," He gripped at his bleeding wrist. "Those walkers would've heard her and came back around," He defended, he looked away from the group as if making a point by making sure the Walker's hadn't turned around.

Dale was already on his knees checking over Harley's wounds. The girl was promptly carried into the RV. Stripped of her weapons - at least the ones Shane could find. A hunting knife and a handgun on top of the compound bow that still on the pavement where she dropped it.

"We are not tying up a child and that's it!" Dale snapped in the doorway of the RV.

"She's no older than, Carl or Sophia," Lori added. "Come on. She just scared," She put a hand on his shoulder. "We can talk about things when she wakes up."

"If she wakes up," Andrea grumbled silencing the whole group.

* * *

It wasn't long before, Rick, Daryl, and Glen returned empty hands from trying to find Sophia. Shane explained the situation to Rick. Night fell and went, Carl was shot and Rick left and ended up on Hershel's farm. Lori took a car with an unconscious Harley up to the farmhouse to meet up with her Husband.

Turns out they hadn't completely disarmed the girl. As soon as she woke up with a shriek she'd fallen out of bed, head spinning and a hyperventilating mess she still managed to pull out a small pocket knife from her boot and swung it as a blue of a person tried to get close. She shrieked and ran out of the room.

She slammed the door shut after her. Catching her breath enough to focus, she set about trying to push the wardrobe in front of the door. Her arms burned as she heard footsteps thunder up the stairs, with a scream she shoved even harder. The wardrobe tipped and fell with a crash.

"Hey! Hey, open the door!" Someone yelled from behind the door.

"C-Come i-in here an-an I'll hurt you!" She gripped the knife with both hands, ignoring the tears streaming down her face as her back hit the wall.

Another boom and the door rattled in its frame. Harley flinched. 

"I'm armed!" She yelled in response, hating the way her voice shook. She sounded weak- hell, she was weak. Barely standing, shaking like a leaf in a tornado as she cried.

"Hey, sweaty," A softer voice came. A Women. "We're not trying to hurt you okay. You hit your head pretty bad the other day and My Dad's been taking care of you. He's a doctor." She said.

"Vet." Someone grumbled.

"My Name's Maggie," Her soft voice filtered through the door. "Can you tell me yours?"

Harley caught her breath, blue eyes narrowed on the block entranceway. "H-Harley," She choked on a sob, any other day she would've kicked herself for sounding so weak. So scared. She was a Dixon for crying out loud. She wasn't meant to be weak. She wasn't supposed to act like a sobbing, crying annoying little girl. She took another deep breath- memories flickered across her mind.

How did her Dad act? He was strong- He'd been in the Military like Pops. Absentmindedly she played with the dog-tags around her neck. One of the very few gifts her Dad had given her. "Dixon," She said. The name brought confidence even if it was a faux sense of confidence. It still brought her enough strength to calm down and think at least semi-clear.

 _Stop acting like a child;_ Harley told herself. _This world doesn't have room for such things_.

"Okay Harley," Maggie said. Not that Harley would admit it but Maggie's voice was oddly comforting. Maybe it was because her mom never once used such a soft, caring tone. Maybe it was because Harley had always wanted an older sibling and she talked-sounded how she imagined one would be like. "Do you remember what happened?"

"No."

"You were being chased by Walkers. This group happened to be in an area, one of them grabbed you in order to hide. You panicked and in the chaos, you hit your head-" The memories were coming back now. Not quite as she described. "Then they came to our farm looking for help."

"No one here wants to hurt you," Said Maggie. "Besides, by the sounds of things. It sounds like you can defend yourself just fine," Her voice took a lighter tone.

Yeah. She could. She could be strong. She could be adult-like. Harley nodded to herself, adjusting her knife on the pocket knife. Her hands were so sweaty so she wiped them on her dirty jeans.

"Can you open the door for me?" Maggie asked. "We can sort you some new clothes and a hot shower."

The idea was tempting, then she paused looking down at the turned-over wardrobe. Could she even move that? Harley slid the pocket knife into her boot and walked over, she tried to push it. No matter how much she pushed or heaved it didn't work.

"Harley?"

"I can't."

"What's wrong, sweety. Why can't you open the door?"

"I- there's a-" She paused shuffling weight from foot to the other. "I pushed the wardrobe over and it's stuck," Her words came out rushed. There was a slight laugh on the other side and her ears burned.

**Author's Note:**

> I'd love to have some feedback on my writing. If any of you guys have any ideas on how I could improve, I'd love that. And on the topic of writing, I know my spelling is pretty atrocious (yes I had to google the spelling of that) as it is so you spot any mistakes let me know. :)


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